Residents of Tver, a city in northwestern Russia, experienced nearly two days of free parking due to what local authorities described as a “technical failure” in the digital parking payment system. However, the Ukrainian Cyber Alliance, a hacker group known for its pro-Ukraine stance, suggested that the disruption was actually the result of a cyberattack on the city’s administrative network.
A spokesperson for the group claimed that they had successfully taken down the network, resulting in the loss of “dozens of virtual machines, backup storage, websites, email, and hundreds of workstations,” leading to significant operational failures.
While Tver officials initially refrained from confirming the hackers’ claims, local cybersecurity experts noted that the city’s official website was offline during the incident.
The administration later acknowledged that technical work was being carried out on its website and online parking payment system, which had rendered these services temporarily unavailable. Residents reported difficulties when trying to make payments, encountering error messages and loading failures, which were consistent with the effects of a potential cyberattack.
After approximately 48 hours, city officials announced that parking payment services had been restored, yet they did not confirm whether a cyberattack had indeed taken place.
This incident is not isolated, as pro-Ukraine hackers have previously claimed responsibility for targeting Russian services. Earlier in October, another hacking group, known as the BO Team, stated they had breached systems used by Russian courts, resulting in prolonged outages for court websites and their associated communication networks.
The Ukrainian Cyber Alliance has been active since its formation in 2016, particularly ramping up operations following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two years ago. The group has claimed various high-profile attacks, including breaching Russia’s national card payment system and taking down the leak site of the Trigona ransomware group, which is believed to have connections to the Russia-linked AlphV gang. The ongoing cyber conflict reflects the increasing use of digital warfare tactics as a means of disrupting and undermining adversary operations.
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